


A Welcome Distraction

by FenHarelsPride (Andauril)



Series: Siryn Lavellan [12]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, melancholic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 20:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4032796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andauril/pseuds/FenHarelsPride
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Siryn Lavellan and Solas steal a quiet nocturnal moment with each other at the battlements. </p><p>From a prompt on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Welcome Distraction

It was almost completely quiet, a few distant snores and the steps of guards parading the walkway the only noises in the night. The breeze carried the distant warmth of summer with it, telling of lush meadows and trees far away in the valleys and the plains.

He could hear her light-footed steps on the stairway behind him. It was so dissimilar from the heavy feet of the guards – she walked almost without a noise, each foot carefully set, footballs first. As much as Solas disliked the sight of Andruil’s marking upon her face, it could not be denied that Siryn moved like a huntress.

“I can’t believe you’ve really decided to come.” Her smile was even visible in the darkness. “It’s not exactly your favorite pastime, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps my preferences have changed?”

She laughed, stepped closer. “Anyway, I’m glad you took me seriously. I never thought you would really act upon my jest.”

“It was a tempting suggestion.”

“Maybe I should tempt you more often.” Her violet eyes seemed almost black, dark as the night sky about, suddenly gleaming when she turned towards him like those of a cat. In the faint light of the stars, her vallaslin stood in stark comparison to her skin. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Siryn’s hand brushed over the back of his own when she leaned in, coming closer, cocking her head slightly, her chin raised to meet his gaze. She was so close, he could feel her warm breath at his cheeks, could make out the little scar between her brows in the darkness, the small dots etched into her skin beneath her eyes and the irresistible curve of her lips, twitched into a suggestive smile.

“You tempt me every day, _vhenan._ ”

“Like a brightly colored fruit or …?” Her voice was undeniable teasing, playful. She tilted her head slightly, looking up to him underneath slightly lowered lashes.

“No …” He could turn away from any brightly colored fruit, even if he was particular fond of one of them. But he could never turn away from her. She held his heart in her delicate fingers, and when the day of parting came, he would leave it with her.

“I’m glad you …”

She gasped slightly, surprised, her eyes widening when he pulled her close, muffling her with his lips. Her words faded to a low moan, and he felt her melting against him, warm fingers closing around his neck and pulling him deeper.

He could not put into words what she was to him, and so poured everything into the kiss, every unspoken truth he was so desperate and yet so anxious to tell her.

For ages, he had wandered restlessly through the Fade, had conversed with spirits, had relived the beauty of his home, lost to time. Never had he expected to find something – someone – who would at one point rival with it, until he met her.

She not only rivalled it. The Fade was no longer enough.

When this world he had wrought could spawn something as bright and marvelous as her …

She was so real. He did not want to shape her reality, as he so easily could have done in the Beyond. He wanted this moment to be raw and pure.

She was slightly breathless when they parted, her hands brushing down his back to wrap around his waist. Her head came to rest against his shoulder, and he could feel the tickle of her hair against his neck and chin. In the faint light of the stars, it was paler than ever, streams of silver flowing down her back.

They stood like this for a time, neither of them daring to break the silence. He did not found it unpleasant. Her warm form pressed against his side, her breath tingling at his neck, the gently circles her hands draw along his back had a language of their own.

There was gentleness in her gaze, deep warmth whenever she looked up to meet his eyes.

The mere thought of someday letting her go was painful, and he tried to preserve this moment, to memorize her touch and her smile, the gleam in her eyes, the tickle of her hair, the scent of her skin – honey and grass and fir needles, of oak and warm wood.

It was her voice that eventually broke the silence, a sweet whisper close to his ear.

“I’m glad you joined me up here. Day’s been … rough. I was barely able to catch my breath for two heartbeats. I know it’s necessary, don’t get me wrong, but I needed this. Just the two of us. Sneaking up the battlements like two _elvar’lasan._ ”

He smiled. “It has been a long time since I felt that way.”

“Me too. I stopped being a child before I turned thirteen. Being the First does have that effect.” Her voice suddenly sounded bitter, sadder.

“I take it you had not much choice on the matter?”

“No, really not”, she murmured. “I like my magic, don’t get me wrong. It’s a gift, a tool I’m glad of having. But it also meant that they life was never truly my own. As soon as my magic manifested, it was obvious what would become of me. I was not allowed to choose for myself. No one bothered to ask me if this was what I wanted.”

“And what was it that you wanted?”

“To choose my own path. I’m … I don’t believe our people will ever get a voice or a homeland if they stay hidden and wait for the _shemlen_ empires to crumble. We wait and wait, for seven hundred years, and we are still outcasts without a home and know only figments of our own history and language. It doesn’t work. It’ll never work.” She sighed. “I want to change that. But I’m not allowed to. What was expected of me was … keeping to the way things have been for seven ages, taking a bond mate, breeding mages for the next generation, and staying away from everything that could bring true change.”

“You care for them.”

“They’re my people. I could never not care.” She exhaled slowly. “But they’re flawed, and sometimes wrong, and I wish I could make them see.”

“Perhaps you will get that opportunity at some point.” They were much more likely to listen to her than to him. He had tried in the past, only to be met with anger and superstition. She was different in that regard, as she was in so many other things.

“You can hope …” She sighed. “I’ve relished the opportunity to learn about our past, our language, but it was always so fragmented. We’ll never reclaim all of it if we turn those away who could help. Like you.”

“You not need to feel sorry for me, _vhenan_.”

“But I do. It were my people who’ve wronged you.”

It was true in so many more ways than she could fathom. And perhaps he deserved their vigor, their hate. He could not truly resent them for it, not if he had been the one who had taken their home, their magic and their immortality from them, albeit involuntarily.

“I can’t stand for that”, she murmured, and she rose to her toetips, turning around just enough to claim his lips with a sweet, lingering kiss. “I love you.” Her voice was little more than a hum, vibrating against his mouth.

“I love you as well.”

If she was to fight against the tide, maybe he could tell her the truth tomorrow.

But right now, this was enough.

 


End file.
